Pretty much every post-game Team Plasma member pretty much seems remorseful or blindly following one of the sages (and taken away by Looker). Ghetsis dismissed the Shadow Triad. All the Team Plasma mooks only followed Ghetsis because they believed Pokemon should be free, and after Ghetsis revealed his plan to rule the world in the end, I REALLY doubt there will be any sort of Team Plasma revival. Especially since Ghetsis is a wanted criminal now.

Neo Team Rocket wanted Giovanni back because they still thought of him as their leader. Giovanni never lied to the face of his team nor completely betrayed them like Ghetsis did. Giovanni simply walked away.

There was an Ex-Team Rocket Grunt living in Icirrus City during the winter. (The American Grunt that spoke terrible Japanese or w/e language of the translated version you have in G/S/C/HG/SS that stole Machine Parts from the Power Plant) Team Rocket probably did at one time have an Unova branch so I wouldn't be surprised if Team Rocket was being revived in Unova. It's extremely unlikely, but it's far more likely than Team Plasma ever existing again.

Albert Wesker & Umbrella are more likely to show up than Team Plasma is.

But going back to this picture:
They're standing a few steps up from here:

They're blocking the way to The Little Dome & The Big Dome and/or Route 5. But even though you should have came from Route 5 because we started in the West, notice how the Rival event seems to happen on the opposite side of where you should have came into the city.

That heavily implies that you'll be coming up through Route 4, which tells me that the Under Water Tunnel in the trailer may very well be a way from South-West Unova to Castelia City, which would make since as that would make Burgh & Elesa the 3rd & 4th Gym Leaders just like in BW1. (assuming Homika & Shizui are the 1st & 2nd)

But for some reason they're blocking off the Sports Domes instead of the way to Route 5. Which implies something of importance is there.
And it's not this:
Because that building is right in front of a rock wall in a place that doesn't fit anywhere in current Unova, and certainly not Nimbasa City.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the place where you & Akuroma are walking on-to a stage is what they're blocking off, replacing one of the Sports Domes. (The place in the picture above is a movie studio, not where you see Akuroma. There's a quick shot of the movie set inside in the BW2 Trailer where you see the overworld sprite for "Mecha-Tyranitar.") Which would make a lot more sense than blocking off the Sports Domes of all things. But even that would beg the question "why are they blocking it in the first place?". Blocking a building's one thing, but they're blocking (assuming there's 4 more on the other side) nearly HALF THE CITY! Not even the Team Rocket takeover of Saffron City blocked that much of an area off.

Moderator

The "blocking" is probably just because so the player won't continue the game until he/she has completed a certain task, OR that they are simply talking. Cheren had a conversation with N in B/W so it's likely it's just that.

There's no bridge like that in the entrance to the city. They'd need 7 men in one line to block the way to the Pokemon Center. They're on the street just outside the Pokemon Musical Building. The only difference is that the hedges in front of the musical are now side-rails.

Well I'm hoping they make him into the kind of rival they haven't made yet. One that's a total dick, but he'll team up with you if it's convenient for him. One that actually uses the player when he has something to gain from it.

The closest we've gotten to that was...well...Bianca...in the Dreamyard when she runs in out of nowhere after you use Cut.

Basically the Rival that Silver should have been. "You're trying to take down Team Rocket? Well screw you! I'M taking down Team Rocket AND you!" What the hell, Silver? In fact Green did the exact same thing in Silph Co.

I guess what I'm saying is that I want a gary-level jerk rival with a brain but not a doormat like Brendan & May. Is that too much to ask?

I liked may and brendan, they were nice. IMO cheren was the worst because he was an up himself twat... Oh god what if the rivals parents were cheren and bianca i always thoght they were up to somthing dissapering for a gym or two then randomly appering out of nowhere together.
EDIT: 2000th post

Yeah because the growth rate of a 10 year old is 2 years in the pokemon world.

Well they already said the rival is very protective of his sister, so that shows he's at least caring. He is also your childhood friend, so he'll probably help you out, and by just looking at him, he sort of gives me a Blue vibe.

i feel like pokemon is getting closer to the other rpg serieses like final fantasy

Click to expand...

How do you mean? I mean, in my view it's been drifting further away...

I mean, Gen I introduced so many things which were staple for all fantasy RPG's: potions, ethethers, elixirs... Heck there was even a HEALING CIRCLE in lavender tower.

If you stop to think what those items actually ARE, they start to conflict with the image pokemons built for itself since those games with unique elements like berries and pikeblocks. The pokemon world is one of science and nature now, not the magic of other fantasy RPG's it was closer to at its begginings.

How do you mean? I mean, in my view it's been drifting further away...

I mean, Gen I introduced so many things which were staple for all fantasy RPG's: potions, ethethers, elixirs... Heck there was even a HEALING CIRCLE in lavender tower.

If you stop to think what those items actually ARE, they start to conflict with the image pokemons built for itself since those games with unique elements like berries and pikeblocks. The pokemon world is one of science and nature now, not the magic of other fantasy RPG's it was closer to at its begginings.

Click to expand...

I think he meant mechanically, which I would buy. The original Pokemon was very much free-form. There wasn't much of a central plot. Hell, if you wanted to, you could get the badge from Fuschia before getting the one from Celadon. The game was exploring around and getting your Pokemon. As the games have gone on, they've started to get more and more significant plotlines, which follows the standard JRPG model. I'm personally hoping they take the next step after that, which is to change the plot based on your decisions.

Moderator

I thought the linearity of Unova was simply too boring. I mean, it was all "after doing X, you can keep going to point Y. Then you need to do Z to proceed."

There was always a glaringly obvious obstacle blocking your path. And the obstacle you first encountered was always the next one to be removed. Totally unlike R/B/Y, where you could go see Snorlax before you took on the third gym, but you would have to finish the fourth one before you could go further. Or yet better, R/S/E, where nothing prevented you from proceeding on from Mauville before even beating the third gym - except a stretch of water that you couldn't cross before you had taken on the fifth. Heck, hadn't Surf required the Balance Badge, you could have gone all the way to Fortree before beating the first gym.

The possibility is slim, but I still hope they fix this up a little in B/W2. Let you roam a little, instead of just clearing one section of the path ahead of you at the time. Let there be crossroads, not just a linear path with dead ends sticking out. Let you have to go back to proceed, sometimes. Pokémon games have always contained the element of "Before you can do B, you must do A", but in BW they took the concept to the extreme and shoved it right in your face.

How do you mean? I mean, in my view it's been drifting further away...

I mean, Gen I introduced so many things which were staple for all fantasy RPG's: potions, ethethers, elixirs... Heck there was even a HEALING CIRCLE in lavender tower.

If you stop to think what those items actually ARE, they start to conflict with the image pokemons built for itself since those games with unique elements like berries and pikeblocks. The pokemon world is one of science and nature now, not the magic of other fantasy RPG's it was closer to at its begginings.

Click to expand...

Potions, ethers, and elixirs were merely parallels for medicines. I'm not sure they were ever magical. Now they've simply added berries and Pokeblocks, the latter of which are equivalent to pet food. Pokemon parallels reality more than it does any fantasy RPG.

I agree with Cobraroll. I liked how you could choose which gyms to tackle and when, rather than being forced along. Now it feels less like an adventure with your own choices and more like going through the motions just to get to the end to see the story through. Perhaps Game Freak knows they went a little too far with Unova's lack of choice and extreme linearity. Although the fact they added a tunnel on top of all the bridges might be another sign they want to herd us like cattle to the next objective.

Sorry if this has already been asked, but do we know if there will be any new dream world abilities introduced with this game?? It would be nice if pokemon with levitate had a second ability. Bronzong gets TWO other abilities to choose from, so why can't other levitate users also have a few more options??

Click to expand...

Wish theyd do something to fix the ground immunity issue.

I would do it like this:
-Make Flying type resistant to Ground instead of immune
-add a separate off-ground stat mechanic (meaning any pokemon can get off-ground status simply because of its design implying the physical ability to fly)
-change ground moves to affect off-ground pokemon where appropriate (Mud Shot, Bone Rush, Mud Bomb...)

Then all the dual type bugs with wings would gain an immunity to EQ and co. (Venomoth, Scizor, Volcarona..)
And the pokemon that have Levitate for no other reason than to fix the issue of flying and getting hit by Ground, could get a proper ability.
Meaning for example Flygon could get the amazing Sandstream for once.
:E

I would do it like this:
-Make Flying type resistant to Ground instead of immune
-add a separate off-ground stat mechanic (meaning any pokemon can get off-ground status simply because of its design implying the physical ability to fly)
-change ground moves to affect off-ground pokemon where appropriate (Mud Shot, Bone Rush, Mud Bomb...)

Then all the dual type bugs with wings would gain an immunity to EQ and co. (Venomoth, Scizor, Volcarona..)
And the pokemon that have Levitate for no other reason than to fix the issue of flying and getting hit by Ground, could get a proper ability.
Meaning for example Flygon could get the amazing Sandstream for once.
:E

Click to expand...

Pokemon does NOT stay true to flavor to this extent, nor do I think it ever will... Besides, you're suggesting to give Scizor an immunity to Ground... yeah, that's totally fair and balances the one good aspect Bug/Flying Pokemon have, right? Also, the notion that a Pidgeot should only resist Ground while Scizor, which cannot sustain flight, should be immune to it, is ridiculous.

On the subject of "Choice vs Linearity" in the way a Pokémon game is built, I prefer the linearity showcased in BW1, if only for the coherency of the story line. There's plenty enough choice in the Pokémon we use, anyway.

Also, there was indeed a "roadblock" in BW1 akin to the Snorlax of Kanto: the little orange cone in the Dream Yard. :P

Don't know for sure yet, but so far there isn't anything to suggest Natural's presence in these games.

Click to expand...

Aside from the fact that the Legendary Pokemon that N took in B/W is the one Kyurem stole energy from in the sequel.

Kind of a dead giveaway unless Game Freak is stupid enough to go "And suddenly Black Kyurem exists for no explained reason!" Which won't happen because they were milking B/W's story for all it's worth and I don't see any reason for them to stop now.